CREATE BRIDGES Launches Business Resources Video Library

by Tiffany Maurer (Guest Blogger) - May 26, 2021

We recently invited CREATE BRIDGES Regional Steering Committee members to write about the regional strategies they believe are the most beneficial for their communities. Tiffany Maurer, director of economic development for Sevier County, chose to highlight the CREATE BRIDGES Resource Library as a helpful tool for business owners. Find her guest article below.

CREATE BRIDGES, an economic development pilot program established to boost regional tourism and retail, has created a library of resources with videos on their website for small businesses.

One resource involves a series of videos - the Online Customer Engagement and Commerce Video Series. This section covers topics such as using Google My Business, Facebook, TripAdvisor and Yelp.

All of the series offer information about the platforms and demonstrates how business owners can claim their business to bring in more sales, improve communication with customers, and utilize the free opportunity for advertising.

The Create Bridges team offering this video series is such a great service for our business owners that want to take control of their online marketing and engagement, but don’t have the time to sit through lengthy seminars. This series was made with busy business owners in mind, and that’s a testament to the thought they put into their content.

• The Google My Business section offers video guidance on creating a profile and “claiming your business” on Google, as well as managing Google My Business on its mobile app platform.
  
  
• The Facebook series offers demonstrations on creating and managing your Facebook business profile in the web and app versions.
  
  
• The TripAdvisor series explains claiming your TripAdvisor profile, creating an account, and managing your account from their app.
  
  
• The Yelp series shows how to create your Yelp profile, claiming and managing your business profile, and utilizing the mobile app. 

All videos in this series are less than 10 minutes long and are sorted by platform for ease of navigation.

Another feature of the resource library is a recorded webinar teaching local business owners how to add their business to the Arkansas.com tourism website. This FREE listing gives small business owners statewide exposure and the ability to be found by the more than three million visitors to the state’s tourism website annually, driving traffic back to the business website and social media accounts.

Suzanne and James Babb, members of the 3C's Regional Steering Committee and owners of Pepper Creek Properties, also created a fun step-by-step video to demonstrate how easy it is to update a business profile on Arkansas.com. 

The Online Customer Engagement and Commerce Video Library is just one of seven video series currently being offered by CREATE BRIDGES on their website. You can access the business resources page at: uaex.uada.edu/business-communities/strategic-planning/support-resources.aspx.

The CREATE BRIDGES 3C’s Region, consisting of Howard, Little River, and Sevier counties, was selected in the fall of 2018. Like other programs and agencies, the CREATE BRIDGES team had to reassess their objectives in 2020 while facing the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and immediately address challenges facing retail, accommodation, tourism, and entertainment businesses and workforce.